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HISTORY 



THE WRONGS OF ALASKA. 



A.N -A.PPEAL 



PEOPLE AND PRESS OF AMERICA. 



Printed by Order of the Anti-Monopoly Association of the Pacific Coast. 



FKBRUA-RY, IB^S. 



SAN FRANCISCO: 
1875. 



vW'u.y''5- 



AN APPEAL 

TO THE 

PEOPLE AND PRESS OF AMERICA. 



San Francisco, January 1875. 
Inasmuch as the hope of receiving redress of the Government 
has hitherto been disappointed and all appeals to the same which 
have been made during the last six years in behalf of the caiise in 
which we now raise our voice again, have been left unheeded; 
and a flagrant stain on the honor of our free country, 
which could be wijjed out by one word of the Congress of the 
United States, is suffered to exist — a monument of the shame of 
America — we now address ourselves to the people, in the heart 
of which, love of freedom, patriotism and justice still live, and 
to its mighty voice and champion, the Press, and appeal to them 
to take up this cause which ought to concern every citizen that 
loves his country. We speak of the serfdom of the civilized in- 
habitants of St. George and St. Paul Islands in Alaska, and of 
the fur-seal monopoly that has been granted by the Government. 

The wrong that has been done is so great, the violation of the 
principles of Republicanism and the Constitution of the United 
States so flagrant, and the corruption that has been connected with 
this disgraceful affair so glaring, that, were the circumstances as 
well known throughout America as they are to people on the Pa- 
cific Coast, it would have been struck down long ago, and would 
have shared the fate of the Credit Mobilier. 

We will therefore give briefly a history of the wrongs of Alaska, 
in which we will strictly adhere to the truth, avoid all exaggera- 
tion, and will be just to all; and in order that this history may 
be universally known, it will be sent in thousands of copies to 
all parts of the Union and to every leading paper in the United 
States. 



/- //'Vf 



A HISTORY 

OF THE 

WRONGS OF ALASKA. 



THE EUSSO-AMEEICAN COMPANY. 

Alaska was discovered about a ceutuiy ago by Russian fur- 
hunters, who sailing east from the coast of Siberia, first came 
upon the Aleutian Archipelago, which they took possession of in 
the name of the Czar. 

Having established themselves on these islands, and having 
thoroughly subjected and Chi-istianized the docile natives, they 
pushed further east, found and explored the extensive coast of 
the mainland, and, after many hard fights with the warlike tribes 
of these regions, established posts along the Behring's sea and 
the North Pacific. 

The Russian Government had granted to these early adven- 
turers especial rights in regard to the countries which they had 
discovered for the crown, and thus was the foundation laid of 
that tremendous concern, the Russo-American Company, that 
held undisputed sway over Alaska till it was purchased by the 
United States. 

This Company enjoyed, under the suffrage of the Emperor, 
the most positive power, and over half a century ruled the 
country with an iron rod; having absolute right over it, and 
everything in it, except the unexplored regions of the far inte- 
rior, and the many ti'ibes of free savages that recognize no master. 
The sole object of this Company was the fur trade, and as it 
was constantly fearful that the attention of the Russian Grov- 
ernment might be excited, it strictly forbade the search after 
minerals, allowed no enterprise except those connected with the 
fur trade, stifled immediately any reports of discoveries, permit- 



ted no outsider to remain in the country, and guarded the latter 
with a jealousy equal to that of our Chinese neighbors. Of 
the imperial commissioners who were, from time to time des- 
patched to this far-away piece of the Czar's dominions, several 
suddenly died on their way home through Siberia, while most of 
them were dealt with according to the American style, that is, 
they returned richer and happier men, and reported everything 
as desired. Finally the Government at St. Petersburgh became 
disgusted, and sold Alaska to the United States. The insur- 
mountable barrier that had walled it in so long fell on the day 

when 

THE STARS AND STRIPES 

Ascended that old flag-staff at Sitka, and the Tei-ritory was 
thrown wide open to every energetic individual. There now 
commenced a time such as had never been seen in Alaska before, 
vessel after vessel laden with merchandise, left the Golden Gate 
and shaped its course for the new acquisitions; trading and fish- 
ing stations arose everywhere on the coast; a fleet of gallant 
schooners cruised on the cod-banks; gold, copper, and coal were 
discovered at many localities, and the sails of American ships 
whitened every sound and bay. There was no doubt that Aliaska 
was in a fair way of being developed, and all those engaged in 
the Territory were convinced of the fact. It was about this time 
when a party of capitalists proposed to stock the Alaska penin- 
sula with sheep and cattle, when there was a plan of establish- 
ing a settlement of New England fishermen at Kinai, and when 
an Eastern firm made preparations for ship-building at Sitka. 

But the j)eople that had chanced their time and capital, and 
often enough their j)ersonal safety, in Alaska, that were prepar- 
ing the way for civilization and develojDment, and fondly believed 
themselves under the protection of a free and just government, 
did not know that corruption stalked almost undisguised through 
the Congressional halls at Washington; that the representatives 
of the people were ready for personal gain to violate the sacred 
principles of our Constitution, to ignore the rights of the peo- 
ple, and to pollute the fair name of America with an indelible 
stain. A cloud arose that nipped the beginning development of 
Alaska in the bud, and put an end to all enterprise except the 
fur trade of one rich and powerful company. 



Although our space is limited, we must go a little into details 
to make the circumstances fully comprehensible, and to show how 
the ruin of Alaska was wrought. 

The Kusso-Americau Company had at the time of the trans- 
fer the following property that had to be disposed of: A large 
number of ware-store and dwelling-houses at Sitka and Kodiac, 
and all their forts and stations on the islands and on the main 
land; an enoi*mous stock of goods, representing a capital in 
proportion, and a fleet of steamers and sailing vessels. All this 
was to be sold, and Prince Maksoutof, former Governor of 
Alaska and President of the Company, was intrusted with the 
business. 

He had not long to wait for a customer, for a number of cap- 
italists cf San Francisco had formed themselves into a trading 
company and hastened to make overtures to the Kussian Prince. 

The concern that thus sprang into existence was the firm of 

HUTCHINSON, KOHL & CO. 

This Company proposed to buy the whole j)roperty as it stood, 
ships, stations and goods, and their offer was eagerly accepted 
by Maksoutof. What the arrangements were, what price was 
paid, has never leaked out, but it is known that everything was 
sold at a ruinous figure; that Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., cleared 
over 1500,000 on the transaction, and that Prince Maksoutof re- 
turned to Russia with a fortune. This, however, does not con- 
cern us or the public, but there was immediately inaugurated a 
system of suppression and high-handed outrages by Hutchinson, 
Kohl & Co., with the assistance of this Russian Prince and by 
Federal officers which deserves our closest attention, while a 
number of fraudulent transactions showed that the new and 
powerful but entirely unprincipled concern^ was capable of any 
action, no matter how lawless and contemptible, to approach the 
object which it was aiming at, which was nothing less than the 
monopolizatloa of the entire territory of Alaska. 

INTIMIDATING THE NATIVES. 

As soon as said sale between Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and the 
Russo- American Company had been effected, the representatives 



6 

«of the former and Prince Maksoutof started on a tour along the 
=coast of the territory, for the purpose of transferring the various 
stations and the property belonging thereto. "Wherever they 
went, the Prince, of whom they stood in mortal fear, announced 
to the natives that Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., had taken the j)]ace 
of the Russian ComiDany ; had the same absolute power ; had 
complete jurisdiction over them, and that if they would dare to 
trade with any other parties they would be punished in the most 
severe manner. 

Placards in the Eussian language, which made known the de- 
cree of the Prince, were hung up at all stations, and the Aleuts 
and ignorant Russians were threatened with imprisonment, and 
corporal punishment, if they would dare to break the com- 
mands. 

These poor people, although they were Christians, and of aver- 
age intelligence, of course thought all this was true, especially 
as American officers (to their shame be it said) used their official 
position and authority to furthermore intimidate these natives 
and represent to them Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. in the same man- 
ner as Maksoutof and his Russian officials had done. 

The natives thus imposed upon were the civilized and Christian 
Aleuts and Creoles along the coast and on the Aleutian Islands 
{for the spirited savages of the interior and the Alexander Archi- 
pelago cared as little for the prince as they did for Brigham 
Young) ; and so great was the terror that the former had been 
inspired with, that it was at first with the greatest difficulty, and 
at many places impossible, to induce them to trade with other 
parties, or if so, only secretly and under cover of night. 

CHEATING UNCLE SAM. 

A little stroke of business was also indulged in by this happy 
combination of this princely Russian and these republican Amer- 
icans, by which the government of the United States was cheated 
out of a large amount of, then, very valuable projDerty. The 
accounts of the Russian company being somewhat obscure to the 
Americans, Prince Maksoutof claimed nearly all the government 
buildings as company's property and delivered them to Hutchin- 



son, Kohl & Co. , and thus the Government had frequently to buy 
back what was already its rightful property. 

These things happened during the years 1867 and 1868. It 
was also about this time that Hutchinson, Kohl & Co.'s steamer 
Fideliter, which was an English vessel, was fraudulently brought 
under the American flag, through the assistance of Collector 
Dodge at Sitka, for which she has since been confiscated by the 
Government. 

MAKING WAR UPON ENTERPRISE. • 

While Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. were thus ruling the Aleuts by 
false rejjresentations and tyrannical treatment they also found 
means to severely annoy and often crush the other traders and 
fur companies that were also engaged in the territory. As the 
restless energy of most of these parties at once forbade all hope 
of driving them out of the field by fair means, unfair and corrupt 
ones were immediately resorted to, and it was principally through 
the assistance of the United States Kevenue ofiicers that this was 
accomplished. Of course it is hard to prove that these efficers 
were hired, but their favoritism was so undisguised, and the 
rewards, which they received for their services, so openly dis- 
tributed, that there can be no doubt in this matter. The most 
zealous revenue officials, in the interest of Hutchinson, Kohl & 
Co., were : W. S. Dodge, Collector at Sitka; Samuel Falconer, 
Acting Collector at Sitka (afterwards in the employ of Hutchinson, 
Kohl& Co.) ; Mr. H. E. MoJntyre, Special Agent of the Treasury 
Department (now General Agent of Hutchinson, Kohl& Co., or 
the Alaska Commercial Co.); Wm. Kapus, Collector of Sitka (after- 
wards General Agent of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., or the Alaska 
Commercial Co. ) ; General Miller, Collector of San Francisco (now 
President of the Alaska Commercial Co.), and several others. 

In those days Sitka was the only port of entry in Alaska, and 
all vessels coming to the territory had to enter and clear at that 
port before they could proceed on their voyage. There also 
existed a law prohibiting the inti'oduction of liquors, arms and 
ammunition into the country (except under [severe restrictions), 
making them articles of contraband ; and there had been adopted, 
by the Secretary of the Treasuiy, a great number of s^^ecial reg- 



ulations in regard to Alaska, which were of the most unpractical 
and conflicting nature, and seemed to have no other object than 
to throw obstacles in the way of the trade. 

These circumstances now afforded the revenue officers the most 
welcome opportunities to annoy whomsoever they pleased, and 
this they did with a vengeance. 

FAVORITISM SHOWN TO HUTCHINSON, KOHL & CO. 

While Hutchinson, Kohl & Co.'s vessels left San Francisco 
without difficulties, came to Sitka, entered, cleared and departed 
without hindrance, without search, and without delay, the other 
parties had to undergo a perfect ordeal of tribulations before 
they got out of the clutches of these Federal officers. At San 
Francisco the trouble generally commenced, and, thanks to Col- 
lector Millers kind efforts, it was connected with nearly as much 
trouble to clear a vessel for Alaska as if she had been suspected 
of being a pirate, intending to start on some lillibustering expe- 
dition. 

This was, however, nothing compared with the annoyances that 
commenced when the ships arrived at Sitka. Here they were 
often detained for days and weeks, without a shadow of a cause; 
vessels, of which there could not be the slightest doubt that they 
had, in every respect, complied with the revenue laws, were 
searched from deck to keelson ; lighters were hauled alongside 
and every package was taken out, and then, if nothing could be 
found against them, they were reluctantly allowed to re-load their 
cargoes and depart. The more anxious these parties seemed to 
be to reach their trading-grounds, the longer were they gener- 
ally kept at Sitka, the confusing revenue regulations serving the 
officers as ample excuse for their arbitrary measures. 

But those that got off with delays and annoyances only, fared 
comparatively well, for a number of vessels were actually seized 
on the most flimsy pretext and, in charge of revenue officers, 
sent back to San Francisco. In every case, as soon as a hearing 
could be had, these vessels were released by the courts, but the 
voyages were broken up ; enterprises had to be abandoned, and 
failures and ruin came over the owners and share-holders. 



ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS CASES 
Is that of the ship Gaesarowitch, which on March 24, 1869, was 
seized by Collector Falconer, at Sitka, and was sent back to San 
Francisco in charge of a Lieutenant of the revenue cutter Bdi- 
ance. She arrived in San Francisco April 18th; the case was 
heard in the District Court on April 20th, and at once dismissed, 
and a few days later the good ship was again on her way to 
Alaska. The damage done to the owners by this little trick, was 
estimated by outsiders at at least $100,000, and the former com- 
menced suit against the Government for double that amount. 
This little affair broke Mr. Falconer's back; he lost his position, 
but he at once received a j)i'ofitable situation with Hutchinson, 
Kohl & Co., as a reward for his services. 

The cases of the General Harney, the steamer John L. Stephens, 
the Lewis Perry, the Alaska, and other vessels were all of a sim- 
ilar kind, and against none of them could a case be made out. 

But while Hutchinson, Kohl & Co's ships went always scot 
free, it must not be supposed that their undisturbed holds never 
contained any of the contraband articles; on the contrary, arms, 
ammunition and liquor reached their stations in abundance, and 
they openly flaunted into the faces of their rivals the advantages 
which they enjoyed. 

Our sj)ace permits us not to refer to all cases and incidents 
which we have recorded in connection with these matters, but we 
will briefly relate one occuj-rence which particularly illustrates to 
what members of the firm of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. , stooped 
to injure those who traded in Alaska: 

In the Spring of 18G8 the steamer Consiantine, belonging to 
Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., sailed from Sitka to Victoria, carry- 
ing a number of passengers and some freight, among the latter 
several lots of furs belonging to traders at Sitka. 

When the steamer reached Plumper Pass, not far from Vic- 
toria, she struck upon a rock and knocked a hole into her bot- 
tom, but sustained no serious damage, as she lay in a calm, river- 
like channel high out of the water, and had settled down on the 
reef on an even keel and in an easy position. The passengers, 



10 

some of whom were ladies, remained on board till assistance came 
from Victoria; the ship, too, was hauled off after a few days, and 
she was soon as good as ever. 

But some of the members of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., who 
had been on board, and who were now in Victoria, asserted that 
most of the freight, and especially the skins, which had a value 
of about $8,000 to $10,000, had been lost, and in spite of numer- 
ous protests of the owners, assured that nothing had been saved. 
Mr. D. Schirpser, who had shipped a lot of fine skins, and who 
had come down on the Constantine, in vain appealed to Captain 
Kohl, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Boscovitch, all members of the 
firm, and finally gave up all hope of recovering his property. 

But one day when Mr. Schirpser managed to get into the back 
yard of Mr. Boscovitch, who had a tobacco business at Victoria, 
he there discovered his casks and packages of furs, still having 
his name on them, stowed away under a shed. Mr. Schirpser had 
Mr. Hutchinson immediately arrested, who had to give bonds to 
the amount of $10,000, but he afterwards concluded to have the 
case brought before the Courts of San Francisoo, but while he was 
on his way down, Boscovitch telegraphed to ihe Company, and 
they immediately settled with Mr. Martin, (partner of Mr. Schirp- 
ser in San Francisco) who had heard of the wreck, but knew no 
details, for about one-quarter the value of the skins, and when Mr. 
Schirpser himself arrived he found his way to justice cut off. 

A PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION. 

The traders and business men who were interested in Alaska, 
and who Avere thus beset on all sides, and had in vain sought 
redress from the Government, finally joined hands for mutual 
protection against the warfare that was carried on against them 
by Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and their allies, the revenue ofiicers, 
and in 1869, formed "The Alaska Traders' Protective Associa- 
tion," Mr. C. J. Janson, President, which on May 3d organized 
and adopted the following resolutions: 

" Wheeeas, For more than a yeai- past, the commerce of Alaska, with its 
great natural wealth and resources, has been monoi^olized by one firm, to the 
prejudice of the public interests, and in manifest disregard and violation of 
the legal rio;hts of the citizens of the United States, and especially of the mer- 
chants of San Francisco. And 



11 

Whebeaa, The revenue officers of the Federal Government in A.la8ka have 
persistently used, and still continue to use their power, authority and influ- 
ence to assist a monoj^oly, and to crush out and drive away from that territory 
all other traders. And 

Wheeeas, The said firm, possessing a monopoly, favored by the revenue 
officers, has been allowed to control the trade of Alaska, to the exclusion of all 
other traders. And 

Whereas, Treasury and Custom House regulations, and military orders 
have been made and enforced, to destroy the public trade with Alaska , by bur- 
dening it with enormous restrictions, impossible of observance, which said 
firm has been permitted, and is still allowed to utterly disregard. And 

Whereas, The ships and steamers sent by merchants of San Francisco 
to Alaska for the purpose of trade, have been repeatedly seized, and their car- 
goes confiscated, without due process of law, and in violation of law. And 

Whereas, Merchants in Alaska engaged in trade, have been illegally 
seized, imprisoned, and their property taken from them for the purpose of ex- 
pelling them from the said territory, thereby to leave the same under the con- 
trol of said monopoly. And 

Whereas, The corruption of Government officers in Alaska, and the igno- 
rance of the Government at Washington in reference to aflairs in that terri- 
tory, are such that redress or protection from these quarters now seems hope- 
less. And 

Whereas, It seems impossible by individual action to exert any influence 
with the Government, to secure justice and break down and destroy said mo- 
nopoly. 

Therefore, We. merchants and citizens of San Francisco interested in the 
trade of Alaska, have formed and united ourselves into an association, to be 
called " The Alaska Traders' Protective Association, " for the protection and 
enforcement of our rights in and to the trade of said territory. 
Adopted, San Francisco, May 3d, 1869." 

Then follows the Constitution, which is of no interest. 

Here the whole tale of lawlessness, violence and corruption, 
that would have disgraced Mexico, is told in a few words ; com- 
ment is unnecessary. 

But it was to come 

A GKEAT DEAL WOESE THAN THAT, 

And the public were soon to find out that this concern of Hutch- 
inson, Kohl & Co., that had tramj^led under foot everything, that 
had the name of justice, fairness and humanity, that had been 
the worst enemy of the new territory — was to become the espe- 
cial favorite of the Government ; that for its sake the rights of 
American citizens were to be disregarded, and that for its sake 
the constitution of the United States and the settled policy of our 
country were to be violated . 

We will explain how this happened. 



12 



THE FUE SEAL ISLANDS. 

In the Behring Sea lie the two small islands St. George and 
St. Paul, which are inhabited each by a community of Christian 
and fully civilized Creoles and Aleuts. Of all the wealth in fur& 
that the whole immense territory of Alaska produces, these two 
islands furnish over half ; for here assemble every Spring the 
precious fur-seals in countless numbers, haul uj) in immense rook- 
eries on the shore for breeding purposes, and remain till late in 
Autumn. These seals are very easily taken, as it is only neces- 
sary to drive a number of them inland, for a mile or two, and 
there kill them with clubs. It was natural that, as soon as the 
territory was opened to the Americans, a number of companies 
should immediately dispatch their ships to these mines of wealth; 
and in 1868 we find Taylor & Bendel, Williams & Havens, Par- 
rot & Co. , Captain Morgan, Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and others, 
having stations on these islands and energetically engaged in 
taking skins ; and, strange as it may seem, in spite of the obsta- 
cles thrown into the way of the other parties, Hutchinson, Kohl 
& Co. were among the last that arrived ; which shows with what 
energy ^the former were possessed. 

This year, 1868, was a golden one for the inhabitants of St. 
George and St. Paul ; the rival companies strove for their favor ; 
every man, woman, and half -grown child found the most profita- 
ble employment, and the coveted luxuries of the Americans, as 
clothing and dresses, groceries, implements of all kinds, orna- 
ments, musical instruments, etc., which these parties furnished 
them, as well as the treatment which they received and the lib- 
erty which they enjoyed, made their life happy and comfortable. 

ATTEMPTING SPECIAL LEGISLATION. 

But this was not to remain so, long ; the arch-enemies of Alaska 
were plotting to get these islands into their sole possession, and 
how well their deeply-laid plan succeeded has been shown by 
subsequent events. It became soon evident, already as early as 
1868, that Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. not only controlled the rev- 
enue officers in Alaska and the collector of the port of San Fran- 
cisco (who is now the president of the Alaska Commercial Co.)^ 



13 

but that they had also gained a great influence at Washington ; 
that deep games were being played in our national capitol, and 
that the Executive and Treasury departments, as well as Con- 
gress, were discriminating in favor of said concern. 

The most shrewd and wily members of the company came to 
Washington, backed by unlimited funds to gorge the greedy vul- 
tures that hover around our seat of government, and immediately 
such shameless lobbying and intrigues were set in operation that 
even the old war - horses of the lobby were astounded. As if 
touched by magic, we see suddenly a number of senators and 
members of the Administration assume the championship for 
Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and soon it was reported that the fur- 
seal islands were to be leased to them, to the exclusion of every- 
body else. 

When the first rumor of the intended lease of said islands and 
their inhabitants to a mercantile firm got abroad, it was not 
believed that such a violation of the letter of law and the spirit 
of our free country would be attempted. People knew that they 
were living in the United States of America and not in Turkey, 
and that a President stood at the head of the nation and not the 
Shah of Persia ; but when the infamous scheme assumed more 
form, and when Senator Cole, of California, actually introduced 
his villainous bill in Congress, there arose an outcry against it, 
so loud and distinct that any Administration, but that then at the 
helm at Washington, would have heard and respected it. 

GENERAL OPPOSITION. 

Not only was the matter daily discussed by the press and uni- 
versally condemned, not only were the frauds, the corruption and 
the misrule in Alaskan affairs, again and again exposed, and 
denounced in the most severe language, but all classes of citizens, 
especially on the Pacific Coast, raised their voice against this 
gigantic scheme. The Chambers of Commerce of San Francisco 
and several Eastern cities held special sessions and protested 
against' it, and these as well as the most influential merchants of 
San Francisco repeatedly memorialized President Grant and Con- 
gress, and appealed to their sense of justice, their patriotism and 
their duty. 



14 



QUOTATIONS TAKEN FROM THE PRESS AND GENERAL PROTESTS. 

"We will quote a few of the expressions made in regard to this 
mattter by California papers. In a long article, headed : " Mo- 
nopolizing Alaska," in the Bulletin, Jan. 23, 1869, we find : 

" Hutchinson, Kohl k Co. having, however, secured for themselves, 
•ander a Republican Government, all the privileges enjoyed by a Company that 
was one of the worst representatives of Riissian serfdom," etc. 

The Daily Herald, January 29, 1869, in speaking of Senator 
Cole's bill, says : 

" The bill is utterly indefensible." 

The Daily Morning Gall, February 18, 1869, brings an article 
headed, " Gigantic Scheme to monopolize the fur trade of 
Alaska," from which we extract the following : 

" The bill introduced by Mr. Cole, in the Senate of the United States, to 
prevent the extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska, embodies a scheme 
for the wholesale appropriation of all the resources of that region, by a handful 
of capitalists, such as cannot but excite public indignation." 

The Bulletin, February 25, says : 

" Now it is better that every fur-bearing seal in Alaska shoiild be destroyed 
within the next twelve months, than that such a monopoly as this, proposed in 
Congress, should ever be perpetuated in the new Territory." 

From the Chronicle, January 29, 1869, we quote : 

" The merchants of San Francisco, whose interest would suffer severely 
by the successful passage of the 'Monopoly-Bill,' have concluded to memo- 
rialize Congress against its passage, and we have been shown the document, 
which bears the signatures of many of our most prominent commercial firms." 

The Alta California, January 30, 1869, after having com- 
mented upon Hutchinson, Kohl & Co.'s doings in Alaska, con- 
tinues : 

" But a bolder step became necessary to protect them against the restless 
enterprise of American citizens, and accordingly they have applied to the Con- 
gress of the United States for such a charter." 

And again, in the same article, we find: 

"A proposition so monstrous has never been made to any Congress." 

And again: 

" These wretched Aleuts are handed over, body and soul, to the tender 
mercies of a single, grasping firm, to have and to hold' in a worse than Russian 
serfdom, by the legitimate successors of the imperial monopoly, which has 
just been routed out of its strong-hold of power by the (nominal) dawning of 
Kepublicanism in the hitherto benighted regions of the North." 



15 

And in a letter to the Bnlletin, dated "Washington, March 26th, 
1869, we find : 

" For some time the pressure brought to bear on the House Committee, to 
induce favorable action on the Senate bill, has been exceedingly heavy, and 
the efforts of the would-be monopolists have been of a nature so earnest and 
persistent as to excite surprise, even among the habitues of the Capitol, who 
were most accustomed to witness displays of desperate lobbying — surprise, 
however, which was dissipated when the magnitude of the coveted prize was 
placed in view." 

While thus the press not only of California, but of the Eastern 
States as well, condemned this monstrous scheme, the Chamber 
of Commerce and the most influential citizens of San Francisco 
took the most active steps to prevent the passage of the bill. A 
memorial to Congress was prepared by San Francisco merchants, 
January 28th, 1869, which reads as follows : 

"We, the imdersigned merchants of the city of San Francisco, California, 
specially interested in the trade of Alaska, and also interested for the honor of 
our country in the estimation of the civilized world, and anxious to save the 
inhabitants of Alaska from a slavery inconsistent with our Federal Constitu- 
tion, and opposed to a ruinous monopoly, destructive not only to the interests 
of trade, but obnoxious to our free institutions, do solemnly protest, in behalf 
not only of ourselves and of the Pacific Coast, but of commerce, humanity, 
justice, and an enlightened piiblic policy, against the passage of the Bill now 
before the Congress of the United States, and introduced by Senator Cole, of 
this State, entitled ' An Act to prevent the extermination of fur-bearing ani- 
mals in Alaska, and to protect the inhabitants thereof. ' 

" "We, in common with all the citizens of the Pacific, feel a deep interest 
in the newly acquired Territory of Alaska, and see in its gi-eat natural resources 
a legitimate source of wealth to enterprising merchants and traders, and we 
are unwilling that the whole trade of this vast region should be monopolized 
by one firm, whose only claim to public consideration is the large fortune it has 
made in that Territory, and its persistent and too successful endeavors to dis- 
courage and destroy competition. • 

""While the helpless inhabitants of Alaska are unable to memorialize your 
honorable body for themselves, and plead in their own behalf, we, as a matter 
of justice and humanity, protest in their name against the attempt now being 
made through this Bill to reduce them to a condition of vassalage to one com- 
pany, from whom we believe they have already sutfered much. 

" All of which is respectfully submitted. 

"Agapius Honchareuko, Taylor and Bendel, E. Tibbey, John Parrott, 
Louis B. Parrott, Alsop and Co., "W. H. Ennis, H. Cohen, S. Martin, Langley, 
Crowell and Co., A. S. Eoseubaura and Co., L. E. Heck and Co., Fordham 
and Jennings, Wellman, Peck and Co., Mitchler and Kessiug, Irvine and Co., 
"WiLmerding and Kellogg, A. Walker, L. N. Handy and Co. , Pioneer American 
Fur Company, Smith and Kittredge, N. B. Edgerly and Co., Jacob Deith, 
Coffin and Patrick, Elisha Higgins, G. H. Collins, A. Crawford and Co., 
Charles Hare, Wright and Browne, L. W. Williams, W. B. Holcomb, George 
M. Josselyn, C. J. Hansen, Cox and Nichols, J. and J. Spruance, W. W. 
Dodge and Co., Lynde and Hough, George Hughes, George L. Debrow, R. H. 



16 

"Waterman, L. H. Bonestell, B. H. Freeman, R. Pesteiu and Co., I. Shirpser, 
Samuel Adams, C. W. Hane, Wheelan and Co., Adolph Muller, F. H. Rosen- 
baum and Co., Frederic Claj% Dodge, Bros, and Co., George W. Stewart and 
Co., James N. McCune, Fargo and Co., Josiah Stanford, L. L. Treadwell, 
Hobbs, Gilmore and Co., H. Liebes and Co., Pacific Fur Emporium, T. Bear- 
ward, W. 0. Gray, Marsh, Pilsbury and Co., James R. Kelly, R. B. Swain and 
Co., E. A. Fargo. 

"San Francisco, California, January 28th, 1869." 

Another memorial to President Grant, which was prepared in 
June, and very extensively signed, contains still more urgent 
language; it reads: — 

MEMORIAL 

To THE PbESIDENT OF THE UNITED StATES, FOK THE PROTECTION OF THE 

Rights and Interests of the People and Government of the United 
States in the Territory of Alaska, by Merchants and Citizens of 
the City of San Francisco, California. 

Your petitioners, merchants, bankers and business men of the city of San 
Francisco, engaged or deeply interested in the trade of Alaska, and in its de- 
velopment, respectfully submit the following Memorial for the consideration 
of the executive of the United States, trusting that it will be favorably re- 
garded and acted upon. 

The condition of affairs in Alaska, from the time that Territory was ceded 
to the United States, has been, and still continues to be, highly prejudicial to 
the rights of the citizens of the Pacific Coast, and especially of this city, 
interested in its commerce, and, we deeply regret to say, disreputable to the 
United States Revenue officers in that Territory, and unfortunate for the true 
interests of our Government therein. 

We will not weary you with lengthy details, but respectfully submit the 
following facts, of which we have been informed, and which we believe to be 
true. They are within the personal knowledge of some of your jDetitioners. 

The trade of Alaska, or, at least, that portion of it which relates to the 
killing of seals and the acquisition of their skins, has been, from the first, 
controlled by the firm of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., to the exclusion of other 
merchants and traders, who profess the same legal right in that Territory. 

The said firm has been permitted to control the action of United States 
Revenue officers in Alaska, to secure its interests and break down and expel 
all competitors. 

Mr. Samuel Falconer, Special Deputy Collector at Sitka, is an agent of 
said firm. In confirmation of this statement we submit the following extract 
from the Alaska Herald, published in this city, of May 1, 1869: 

"Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. imagine that all Russian America is their 
empire. A few weeks ago Mr. Falconer, the agent of this firm in Alaska, also 
Deputy Collector at Sitka, seized the schooners Alaska and Lewis Perry, not 
for the violation of the law, but to prevent these traders from doing business 
in their empire." 

Nearly every sutler attached to the United States military posts in Alaska 
is an agent or employee of said firm. The »six citizens permitted by law to 



17 

remain upon the Islands of St. Paul's and St. George's, a United States mili- 
ary reservation, are all connected with said firm. Other officers of the Fed- 
eral Government in Alaska, if not in the actual employ of said firm, are, at 
least, attached to it in interest by corrupt means. 

The natural consequence of this deplorable condition of things is, that the 
said firm controls almost the whole Revenue service of this Government in 
Alaska, and that the Keveuue officers use their poM'er, authority and influence, 
in many cases, corruptly to advance the interests of said firm, and crush out 
all competition, thereby leaving the whole trade of Alaska, or the most valu- 
able portion of it, with said firm. 

Said firm has been repeatedly permitted to openly violate or disregard the 
Treasury and Custom House regulations and military orders, affecting the 
trade of Alaska, while the same have been enforced against all others 
with undue rigor, in violation of their triie spirit and intent. All but the 
agents and employees of said firm have been expelled from the United States 
military posts in Alaska. 

Steamers and ships belonging to citizens of San Francisco, lawfully en- 
gaged in trade with Alaska, have been seized by United States revenue officers, 
in said Territory, in the interests of said firm, and for its benefit, without due 
process of law, and in violation of law. 

Even vessels attached to the Eevenue service of the United States have 
been used by said firm for the transportation of its property, while the expense 
of the same was paid out of the public treasury. 

Upon the Islands of St. George and St. Paul, said firm, through its agents 
in sutlerships attached to the United States military posts, has been per- 
mitted to monopolize the trade in the fur seals, only found on said Islands, to 
the exclusion of all other citizens. 

We respectfully submit, that the monopoly of the trade of Alaska, 
possessed by the said firm, is in violation of our laws, and of the spirit of our 
institutions, and is in gross violation and disregard of the rights of your peti- 
tioners, in common with all other citizens of the United States in said Terri- 
tory, and that we feel deeply aggrieved thereby. We respectfully pray that 
such measures may be taken by this Government as will put an end to said 
monopoly, and admit all other citizens of the United States to equal rights, 
and participation in the trade of Alaska. 

We further submit, that the natives of Alaska are ignorant of the United 
States laws and Treasury regulations for that Territory, because the same have 
not been published in their language- -the Eussian — which nearly all the 
Alaskians can read and write 

We respectfully recommend that the same be published in the Alaska 
Herald, a newspaper printed in the Eussian and English language in this city, 
in the Eussian language, and also printed in that language, for gratuitous dis- 
tribution among the five thousand natives of Alaska, who, we are informed, 
can read. We further respectfully submit, that said laws and regulations are 
not known and understood by the people on this Coast, and respectfully rec- 
ommend that the same be published in one or more of the public newspapers 
of this city. 

Your petitioners pray that an investigation may be ordered, forthwith, 
into the administration of the Eevenue laws and regulations in Alaska, and 
that all officers in the employ of, or receiving pay from said firm of Hutchin- 
son, Kohl & Co., be forthwith discharged from the public service, and be suc- 
ceeded by faithful and disinterested men, who shall be free from the corrupt 
2 



1$ 

influences of said firm, and abstain from administering their offices, and 
wielding their power and authority for its benefit. That all the sutlers now 
attached to United States military posts in Alaska, being all, or nearly all, in 
the employ of said firm, be forthwith discharged, and superseded by disinter- 
ested men. 

Your petitioners further recommend and pray that no person, other than 
natives of Alaska, be permitted to engage in the trade of said Territory, unless 
he first file his declaration of his purpose so to do, with Collector of this port, 
that no vessel be permitted to clear for A.laska, or enter any of its ports, or 
touch at any portion of its Territory, without first having obtained a clearance 
from the Custom House of San Francisco direct for Alaska, and the filing in 
said office of a declaration by the owner or master of such vessel that the 
same will engage in the trade of Alaska. Several vessels have sailed from 
Siberia to Alaska, loaded with opium and other goods, upon which heavy 
duties are imposed, and by going direct to Sitka and clearing there for this 
city, as though their cargoes were the products of Alaska, have escaped the 
payment of duties upon their cargoes, thus defrauding the revenue of the 
United States of large siims, which, we believe, amount in the aggregate to 
more than two hundred thousand dollars. That no vessel be permitted to 
engage in the fur seal trade of Alaska, without a clearance from the Custom 
House at San Francisco, and a declaration by the owner or master thereof, 
filed therein, of intention to kill or purchase fiir seals, or to do both. That 
none but citizens of the United States be permitted to engage in the trade or 
fisheries of Alaska. 

Your petitioners would fiirther respectfully recommend and pray, with 
respect to the fur seal trade of Alaska, that laws be passed, and in the mean- 
time Treasury regulations be promulgated, prohibiting the killing of seals upon 
the Islands of St. George and St. Paul by any but natives of Alaska, and ex- 
cept from September to November of each year, and that only a certain num- 
ber i^er annum on each island be killed, that it shall be unlawful to kill female 
seals, or pups under one year of age. That every sealskin, before its sale, be 
exhibited to a United States Inspector, to be apiaointed on each of said Islands 
for such purpose, who, if the same appear to have been killed in violation of 
law, shall confiscate the same for the public benefit, and fine or punish, in 
such manner as may be prescribed, the person exhibiting the same; that said 
skins be sold to traders in the presence of such Inspectors, and that the time 
of sale by the natives, the purchaser thereof be required to pay such Inspect- 
ors such Government tax as may be imposed for each skin, and, after such 
payment the said skins shall be stamped or branded by such officers. 

We respectfully submit, that at present, no person other than United 
States troops and Kevenue officers, and agents to said Hutchinson, Kohl & 
Co., are permitted to reside or land upon either of said Islands, or to pur- 
chase sealskins procured thereon, and that, consequently, said firm possesses 
a monopoly of said trade, to the manifest prejudice of the public, and to 
the detriment of the public revenue, which loses the sum that might with 
competition be collected on said skins. 

We respectfully recommend and pray that some one place on each of said 
Islands may be designated as a public market, in which citizens of the United 
States may be permitted to reside and purchase said sealskins, during a certain 
season to be designated for the sale of the same; and that the purchase of 
such sealskins in said markets may be thereon open to the comi^etition of citi- 
zens of the United States. Or, that the right to purchase said sealskins upon 
said Islands, each separately, be sold at public auction in San Francisco, to 
the responsible bidder who offers the highest sum thereof, and that no person 
or firm be permitted to ptirchase such franchise for more than one of said 
Islands ; or that sealed bids for the sale of such franchise be received by the 



19 

'Collector of this port, or the Treasury agent of the United States in this 
city. 

We respectfully request that an answer to this memorial be forwarded to 
the 

San Feancisco, June 15, 1869. 

The Chamber of Commerce, at regular and special sessions, 
discussed the matter most earnestly, and at a meeting held on 
February 22, 1869, the President was instructed to telegraph to 
our delegates in Congress, requesting them to unitedly use 
their influence to at least delay action upon the subject of a dis- 
position of the fur-seal interest of Alaska. 

At this meeting a petition of Aleuts to the Chamber of Com- 
merce of San Francisco was received, imploring the same for aid 
and protection against oppression by Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. 

Soon after a special meeting having been called for the pur- 
pose, the Chamber of Commerce memorialized Congress, asking 
■equal rights for all parties, and at the same time protection to 
the fur-bearing animals, and a bill in regard to Alaska was j)re- 
pared by the former, and submitted to the latter, which, if it 
had been adopted, would have solved the problem to everybody's 
satisfaction. 

But amidst all this storm of indignation and protests, the 
President of the United States and the Congress, then in session, 
exhibited the utmost disregard for the wishes of the people so 
unmistakably pronounced. 

The interest of the whole Pacific Coast, the clamor of the 
entire press, the loud voice of the j^ublic, and the plain letter 
of the Constitution of the United States were outweighed by the 
influence of one concern, that came prepared with unlimit- 
ed funds which it distributed with a lavish hand. It was 
coolly resolved that the jjrincipal wealth of Alaska should be 
handed over to Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and that the unfortu- 
nate Aleuts of St. Paul and St. George should be delivered into 
their hands; but as this could not be done without Congress hav- 
ing regularly acted upon it, a plan was devised which would 
enable Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., to enjoy in the meantime all 
the privileges which they coveted. 



20 



FAVOEITISM SHOWN BY THE GOVEKNMENT TO HUTCHIN- 
SON, KOHL & CO. 

This was done in the following manner : In order to prevent 
the speedy extermination of the fur-seals, it was resolved that the 
Government itself should take charge of the islands till Congress 
had acted upon the matter, and that no more seals should be 
killed than were needed for the support of the inhabitants, say 
from 2,000 to 3,000, [so far so good, a most excellent measure; 
bvit now comes the real object] and that all parties, then having 
stations on the islands, should be driven off, except Hutchinson, 
Kohl & Co., and Williams & Haven, the latter of which had 
consolidated with the former. 

Collector Miller, of San Francisco, received therefore a dis- 
patch signed by Secretary McCullough, and dated Washington, 
February 13, 1869, which says: 

" Steamer Alexander, [belonging to Hutchinson, Kohl & Co.,] 
may clear in ballast with sea-stores direct for St. Paul and St. 
George, to remove property of owners, and part of their em- 
ployees; send with her two trustworthy inspectors to remain on 
said islands, and prevent landing of any person or merchandise 
until relieved by Lincoln." 

Thus Hutchinson, Kohl & Co's vessel was commissioned to do 
the Government's work, and General Miller who soon after re- 
signed his collectorship to become President of the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company, was entrusted with the selection of two trust- 
worthy inspectors. Of course these orders were only a form, 
the real intention was that Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., should take 
immediate possession of St. Paul and St. George, and when Col. 
Frank W. Wicker, then Collector of Alaska, and Mr. Vincent 
Colyer, visited the islands dui'ing 1869 as special agents of the 
Government, they found, that instead of 3,000 seals altogether,, 
over 60,000 seals had been killed on St. Paul alone; and when 
Col. Wicker made a report of the fact to the Government, he was 
immediately relieved. The skins were of course approjDriated by 
Hutchinson, Kohl & Co. 

During the same year, when Mr. Thomas Taylor, of the firm of 
Taylor & Bendel, of San Francisco, touched at the islands in his 



21 

Btjliooner, Page, to look after his property, whicli bis employees 
had been forced to abandon, he found that his buildings had 
been appropriated by the Government, and he was peremptorily 
ordered to leave. 

THE LEASE. 

When the chances of Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., of getting- pos- 
session of the fur-seal islands became almost a certainty, not 
only Williams & Haven had joined them, but Collector Miller 
[who is a special friend and favorite of Gen. Grant, and who 
had served the Comj^any so well and his country so badly] re- 
signed his collectorship of the port of San Francisco to become 
President of this enlarged concern which now called itself "The 
Alaska Commercial Comijany." In the meantime while the lob- 
bying at Washington went bravely on, it had been decided that 
said islands were to be leased, but in order to preserve at least 
an appearance of fairness, not to the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany, but to the highest bidder; but that this was nothing else 
but a blind to satisfy and appease the public subsequent events 
have sufficiently proven. 

Congress passed an Act entitled: 

AN ACT TO PREVENT THE EXTEEMINATION OF FUR-BEARING 
ANIMALS IN ALASKA. 

[Appkoved July 1, 1870.] 

The principal provisions of the Acts are the following : 

No more than 100,000 seals a year are allowed to be killed on 
Taoth islands together (75,000 seals on St. Paul Island, and 25,000 
on St. George Island), under pain of forfeiture of the lease. 

Terms of the lease twenty years from May 1, 1870. The year- 
ly rental to be no less than $50,000 per annum. 

The lease to be made immediately after the passage of the Acts 
— to the best advantage of the United States — to proper and responsi- 
ble parties, having due regard to the interest of the Government, 
the native inhabitants, the parties heretofore engaged in the trade 
and the preservation of the seal fisheries. 

The wording of the Acts clearly indicates that the lease should 
^0 to the highest responsible bidder filling the conditions and 



22 

qualifications required by the Acts. This seems also to have been 
the opinion of Secretary Boutwell, but the Alaska Commercial 
Company insisted that the Lease Act was passed for their special 
benefit. They were so importunate that the Secretary of the 
Treasury felt induced to apply to the Attorney General for 
advice. 

This application was made in a letter under date of July 2, 
1870, to the purport that the lease should be awarded to the 
highest responsible bidder, to the best advantage of the "United 
States, according to the wording of the Act, 

The Secretary of the Treasury then issued the following adver- 
tisement, dated July 8, 1870 : 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

"The Secretary of the Treasury •will receive sealed proposals until 
12 o'clock, noon, Wednesday, the 20th of July inst, for the exclusive right to 
" take fur seals upon the Islands St. Paiil and St. George, Alaska, for the 
"term of twenty years from the 1st day of May, 1870, agi-eeably to the pro- 
" visions of an Act approved July 1, 1870, instituted: ' An Act to prevent the 
" extermination of fur-hearing animals in Alaska.' 

"In addition to the specific terms prescribed in the Act, the successful 
"bidder will be required to provide a suitable building for a public school on 
" each Island, and to pay the expense of maintaining a school therein for not 
" less than eight months in each year, as may be required by the Secretary of 
" the Treasury. 

" Also to pay the natives of the Islands for the labor performed by them 
' as may be necessary for their proper support, under regulations as may be 
'prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury." 

The remaining Alaska traders, though having strenuously work- 
ed against the Lease Act while it was pending, knew full well that 
the lease in such hands as those of the Alaska Company would be 
equivalent to a monopoly of the whole of Alaska Territory, and also 
equivalent to their gradual ejectment from it. 

They were consequently compelled, in order to save their invest- 
ments, to compete for and bid on the lease . 

The 20th day of July was the last day of receiving bids. On 
that last day the Treasury Department issued a singular memoran- 
dum, which we subjoin. 

Office of the Seceetakt, \ 
July 20, 1870. j 

"Memorandum in reference to bids for the exclusive right to take- fur seals 
upon the Islands St Paul and St. George, read before the persons present at 
the opening of the bids at 12 o'clock noon, July 20, 1870. 



23 

"First. The successful bidder will be required to deposit security within 
three days to the amouut of §50,000 in lawful money or bonds of the United 
States, for the due execution of contracts, agreeably to ' ' An Act to prevent 
the extermination of fur-bearing animals in Alaska." Approved July 1, 1870. 

"Seco7id. It being apparent from the language employed in the Act afore* 
said, that it was the intention of Congress to give a preference to the Alaska 
Commercial Company in the award of their contracts, I think it proper to 
state, before the bids are opened, that the contract will be awarded to the said 
Company if their proposal shall be not more than ten per cent, below that of 
the highest bidder. 

"Third. No bid will be accepted unless made by a responsible party, 
acquainted with the business, or skilled in kindred pursuits to such an extent 
as to render it probable that the contract will be so executed as to secure the 
results contemplated by the lease." 

The Secretary then proceeded to open the bids, of which there 
were fourteen. 

The lowest bid was that of the Alaska Commercial Company, 
amounting to $65,000 — rental a year — and the highest bid that of 
Louis Goldstone, for a combination of various San Francisco 
firms, amounting to a yearly rental of $227,500. 

The principal parties in the combination of firms for whom 
Groldstone had made the bids, was the firm of Taylor & Bendel, 
one of the most respectable and prominent houses of San Fran- 
cisco that had been engaged in the Alaska trade from its opening? 
and having the additional advantage over the Alaska Commercial 
Company of prior occupation. The inquiries immediately institu- 
ted by the Government in Washington, through the agency of 
Custom House Collector Phelps, of San Francisco, as to their 
standing and responsibility, were of a character in every way 
satisfactory. 

Notwithstanding this and the great discrepancy in the bids, the 
Alaska Commercial Company entered various protests, which 
were referred by Mr. Boutwell to the Attorney General. Then 
Mr. A. T. Ackerman, who heard arguments on both sides, and 
under date of July 29th, decided in favor of Goldstone and associ- 
ates. 

After the delivery of Mr. Ackerman's opinion, it was everywhere 
taken for granted the lease would be awarded to Goldstone. 
Nobody had any doubt of it. All obstacles had been removed, 
and all protests done away with. 



24 

On July 30fch Mr. Goldstone consequently called at tbe Treas- 
ury office for the lease, 'but to his utter astonishment and conster- 
nation he was informed that the lease had been awarded to the 
Alaska Commercial Company, on the terms of his own (Gold- 
stone's) bid. The communication was made by acting Secretary 
"William A. Richardson, whose face in giving the information was 
crimsoned with shame. Mr. Boutwell had secretly left for 
Massachusetts. 

Thus it came to pass that the scheme succeeded; that slavery 
and bondage, for the abolishment of which, a 'few years before 
the best blood of America had been sacrificed, was here restored 
and was openly sanctioned by Congress, that free and liberal 
America had granted a monopoly of trade, and was placed on a 
footing with the most despotic of the powers of Europe, Russia, 
and that Christian communities together with their two islands 
were leased to the Alaska Commercial Company for twenty years. 
Alas ! Alaska was then indeed an appropriate term . 

ACCUSED OF BEIBERY. 

If the prize that the Alaska Commercial Company had thus 
gained was enormous, it can be imagined that a tremendous sum 
had to be sacrificed to satisfy the political cormorants, and the 
press in those days made the most sweeping charges against 
members of Congress and members of the Administration, and 
there was an ugly rumor that the brother-in-law of the Presi- 
dent, Mr. Dent, had been made a partner of the concern at the 
eleventh hour. 

STATE OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 

Although the Alaska Commercial Company has ever since the 
wretched people of St. George and St. Paul were delivered into 
their hands, asserted that the latter are well satisfied with their con- 
dition, and that they are as happy as the day is long; yet the 
meager news that, in spite of the vigilance of the Company, have 
reached San Francisco, tell a different tale, and they are so re- 
stricted by the terms of the lease that they are in nothing else 
but a state of bo ndage and slavery. 



25 

The inhabitants of these islands are shut oft' from commu- 
nication with the outer world like a colony of convicts, as no 
vessel is permitted to touch at, or no person allowed to land on 
their soil, except those belonging to the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany. They are not allowed to leave the island without pei'mis- 
sion. They are forced to accept 40 cents per skin, which are 
worth from $10 to $20 each at Loudon, and they must pay for 
the commodities of life what the Alaska Commercial Company 
demands of them. And if we consider that they are brought 
into this condition by the Government of the United States, which 
has the sacred duty to protect the personal liberty of every indi- 
vidual within its domains, we cannot imagine a more flagrant case 
of the violation of the principles of Kepublicanism than that 
which here presents itself. 

Considering furthermore the course which Hutchinson, Kolil 
& Co., which is now the Alaska Commercial Company, have ever 
pursued since their name has been known, bow little they have 
respected what humanity, law and justice demands, we are forced 
to believe that the condition of the inhabitants of St. George 
and St. Paul is not such as they represent, and that the latter 
deeply feel their degradation and long for the light of freedom 
which sheds its rays everywhere, within the wide boundaries of our 
country, except at this benighted spot, has been shown by that 
touching appeal, which after many obstacles finally reached the 
ears of the American people, but only to be left unheeded by 
those parties that wielded the power and that held the remedy in 
their hands, but whose interest was at stake. 

THE SUPPRESSED PETITION. 

We refer to the famous petition of the inhabitants of St. 
George's Island, which can not be read without a feeling of re- 
gret, shame and indignation, and the history of which, briefly 
given, is as follows: 

"When the fur-seal islands had been about a year in possession 
of the Alaska Commercial Company, there arrived in San Fran- 
cisco a native of the island of St. George, by the name of Peter 
Rupi, who brought to Agapius Honsharenko, editor of the Alaska 
Herald — a paper published in San Francisco — a petition written 



26 

in the Russian language, which had been drawn up by the same 
Aleuts who once before appealed to the Chamber of Commerce* 
and which had been signed by all the leading men of said islands. 

The following is the petition translated into readable English: 

THE SUPPEESSED PETITION. 

We, the undersigned natives of St. George Island, Alaska^ 
and citizens of the United States, by virtue of Treaty Stipu- 
lations, feeling aggrieved at the mismanagement of the affairs 
of this Territory, resulting in serious grievances to us, availed 
ourselves of the medium of a petition to the General Gov- 
ernment, in the hopes of accomplishing through such means, 
such reforms in the management of Alaskan affairs as would 
tend to ameliorate the unhappy condition in which we found 
ourselves placed. 

This petition was framed in 1869, and was entrusted to the 
care of our countryman, I. Arcliimandritoff, to be forwarded 
totiie proper authorities at Washington for their action thereon 
in our relief; but we are sorry to say it never reached its des- 
tination. Again we prepared the petition, and this time to 
assure its delivery to the authorities at Washington, we en- 
trusted it to Mr. N.Buynitski, a United States official from 
Washington, at the time present on the Island. This officer 
received the petition in 1870, and promised faithfully to pre- 
sent the same to the authorities at Washington; but on his 
return amongst us in the year 1871, we were again destined to 
disappointment, for on our urgent inquiry as to what had 
been done with our petition, we received no answer. We 
have, in view of these facts, been forced to the conclusion, 
that our petition to ensure us the redress of our grievances 
addressed to the Supreme authority at Washington, has been 
suppressed. 

Now, therefore, we, the undersigned, forward for publica- 
tion in the Alaska Herald a copy of the said suppressed peti- 
tion, in hopes that it may, by that means, reach the ear of 
the General Government, and the proper authorities thereof, 
at Washington. 



27 

PETITION. 

St. Geokge Island, Alaska, August 5, 1871. 
We, the undersigned natives of St. George Island, Alaska, 
and citizens of the United States, consider that we have been 
treated by the United States Government without due con- 
sideration to our wants and necessities. 

That we can read and write and are capable of holding 
correspondence with the Government. 

That Government, without consulting us, or understanding 
our situation, wants, and necessities, leased the Island on 
which we live, for twenty years, thereby virtually sentencing 
us to a twenty years imprisonment. 

That we recognize by this act, that we have been reduced 
to a species of slavery, and that we are compelled to labor 
and to receive therefor only forty cents per fur seal skin, or 
50 cents per day for labor — when we can procure it — an 
amount entirely inadequate to our wants, and which leaves 
us dependents and paupers, checking our prosperity, and im- 
peding the progress of our civilization. 

That in consequence the education of our children, a priv- 
ilege secured to other citizens of the United States, must be 
abandoned. Morally, religiously, socially and commercially, 
our destiny is in the hands of the lessees of the Government. 

We are the slaves of these lessees, and at their mercy. 

We are shut out from all intercourse with other portions 
of the Republic, and are consequently debarred from im- 
provement by mutual correspondence with sister communi- 
ties, and from learning through such intercourse, how to ad- 
vance in the common civilization of our country. 

Even merchants and traders are excluded from our shores 
by these lessees, and competition is thus cut off, and we are 
dependent only on the mercies of our masters. The em- 
ployees of the Company (lessees of our Island) often beat 
and violently assault us, threatening to drive every Aleut 
from the Island, and that they have that power, through this 



28 

lease obtained by them from Government, at a cost of many 
thousand dollars. These employees are careless and indif- 
ferent about the fur-seal, — our only resource and support for 
ourselves and families. The lessees are permitted to kill 
25,000 per annum. When we bring them skins, they select 
only the first class skin, and order us to take the rest out of 
their sight. By this means, out of one hundred skins, about 
75 are purchased by them, and the rest, 25 skins, have to be 
thrown into the sea. The rejected skins which are cast into 
the sea and destroyed, would find a ready sale with other out- 
side traders who are eager to purchase them; and thus are the 
fur seals gradually disappearing; our labor is partially lost, 
and 25 per cent, of the wealth of our industry is lost to us, 
because no one is allowed to visit our shores to trade with 
us, but the lessees of our Island, whom we are compelled to 
regard in the light of masters and even tyrants. 

In conclusion, we beg respectfully of the United States 
Government, and of our fellow citizens all over the Repub- 
lic, to regard us not as wild Indians; we are not such, but as 
fellow citizens, struggling to advance in civilization, and to 
become worthy to be esteemed as fellow citizens of the Re- 
public. 

Petee Eezantzow, Alexis Galamin, 

Andronic Eezantzow, Gabriel Galamin, 

NiciPHOR Veculow, Boris Galamin, 

Peter Eupi, Alexis Ustugow, 

Alexis Shvetcow, Barpholomeus Malovanski, 

Egor Kolechow, Ivan Shein, 

Ivan Philemonow, Ivan Popoff, 

Sabba Kolechow, Alexander Ustugow, 

Job Philemonow, Sebastian Merguriew, 

Zachar Ustugow, Neophit Shvetcow, 

Tlaton Yeculow, Joseph Shvetcow, 

CiPRIAN MeRCUEIEW, NICHOLAS USTUGOW, 

Peter Chlebow, Phoca Shein, 

UsTiN Shvetcow, Ivan Akupski. 

,Semen Philemonow, 



29 

This petition created a sensation in California as well as in the 
East, and was a bombshell to the Alaska Commercial Company. 

Again did the press raise its voice in behalf of these unfor- 
tunate Aleuts; again was the unconstitutionality of the lease held 
up before the public, and again were justice and fairness de- 
manded. But once more did the storm of indignation break 
upon the stoical front that the government presented; the Alaska 
Commercial Company declared the petition a fabrication, and 
probably spent another cool $50,000 where it did most good, and 
that ended the matter. The Government did not take the slightest 
notice of the petition, and the Alaska Commercial Company has 
been careful that not another one should leave the island again. 

We exclaim, again : Alas, Alaska I 

ONE MORE EFFORT. 

It was now evident, beyond all doubt, that, although the gen- 
eral Government was fully acquainted with every detail of this 
disgraceful affair, no redress could be obtained at Washington ; 
still, one more effort was made by the indignant citizens of San 
Francisco, and, in February, 1872, the Senate of the State of 
California was memorialized and implored to use its influence 
with the Government of the United States in behalf of this cause. 
We give here the memorial : 

MEMORIAL 

To THB Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 
State of California : 

The memorial of the undersigned citizens of the United States, and mer- 
chants and traders of the city of San Francisco most respectfully represents : 

That whereas. The purchase of the Territory of Alaska by the United 
States Government, at a cost of over $7,000,000, paid out of the public treas- 
ury, was a national act, the purpose of which was the acquisition of territory 
with a view to the eventual carving out therefrom of a State or States for 
admission into the Union, with power reserved in the general Government 
intermediate such acquisition, and the ultimate object for which all territory is 
acquired, to exercise such authority over the same as a wise and prudent admin- 
istration should dictate. 

And whereas, the isolated position of Alaska, and the peculiar resources of 
that territory, render the inhabitants thereof singularly dependent on commerce 
for the supply of most of the necessaries of life, without which they must be 
abandoned to the most pitiable privations and be reduced to the most urgent 
distress. 



30 

And wbereas, in view of the above facts, a wise and prudent administration 
-of the affairs in the government of said territory would dictate that trade and 
intercourse between said territory and the rest of the Republic should be guar- 
anteed free, uninterrupted and untrammeled, and every facility should be 
afforded by the general Government to promote such intercourse for the mutual 
benefit of all citizens of the Eepublic, and for the development of such 
resources as may lie dormant in that distant territory. 

And whereas, the entire Pacific Coast is immediately interested in the pro- 
motion of such trade and intercourse with Alaska, and especially the State of 
California, whose position and resources and commercial facilities eminently 
design it to be the purveyor to the wants of its fellow citizens in Alaska, and 
the magazine from which may be drawn such supplies as may be required by 
them and not afforded in their latitude. 

And whereas, the Congress of the United States, in the exercise of its legiti- 
mate authority, given under paragraph 3 of Section VIII of Article I of the 
Federal Constitution, which empowers Congress ' ' to regulate commerce among 
the several States," etc., has unwisely, injudiciously and imprudently, and in 
the absence of all knowledge of the wants, rights and desires of the people of 
that territory, and by undue influence and corrupt practices of parties person- 
ally and pecuniarily interested, seeking to betray the interests of said people, 
and to mislead and deceive the general Government, made a certain contract 
with the Alaska Commercial Company, in the nature of a lease of the import- 
ant islands of St. Paul and St. George in Behring Sea, the said islands being 
the only known home of the fur-seal in America. 

And whereas, by the terms of said contract, or lease. Congress has surren- 
dered to the said Company, for a jjeriod of twenty years, the entire resources 
of the said islands, together with the inhabitants thereof, in their foreign inter- 
course and the entire regulation of the trade therewith, and has invested the 
said Company with such arbitrary privileges and powers as to virtually give to 
said Company a monopoly of the entire resources and commercial interests of 
the said territory, thereby shutting in the inhabitants thereof from all inter- 
course, through the medium of commerce, with their fellow citizens elsewhere 
in the Union except through the agents and emijloyees of the said monopoly. 

And whereas, by the terms of the said contract or lease the Congress of 
the United States has abdicated in favor of said monopoly that portion of the 
sovereign power of the Government of the United States which can rightfully 
be exercised by Congress alone. 

And whereas, the executive branch of the general Government, through its 
officers and agents, thereto prompted by like undue influences and corrupt 
practices and means, has been led to sustain and support the said mouopolj' in 
the illegal exercise of its unconstitutional privileges and powers ; in that 

It has surrendered itself, through its Revenue officers in Alaska, to the 
control of this monopoly. 

It has permitted Federal officers to act as agents of the said monopoly. 

It has permitted Federal officers to become stockholders in said monopoly. 

It has sufi'ered the said monoijoly, from time to time and on repeated occa- 
sions, to violate with impunity the customs, regulations and military orders 
affecting trade with Alaska, by the laxity and collusion of its agents, acting in 
the double capacity of Federal officers and agents of the said monopoly, while 
the said regulations and orders were rigorously and arbitrarily enforced against 
other merchants and traders, to a degree in violation of the spirit and intent of 
the same. 



31 

It has caused steamers and vessels to be illegally seized aud sold by its offi- 
cers in Alaska at the dictation of the said monopoly, and upon pretended 
infractions of the said regulations and orders, solely for the purpose of imped- 
ing commerce, driving out competition with said monopoly, and to suppress 
trade with the people of Alaska, and have thereby entailed great loss to the 
commercial interests of California, and siibjected the merchants of this State 
to great cost and expense in contesting false and frivolous charges i^referred by 
executive officials acting in the said double capacity as Federal officers and 
agents of the said mono^wly. 

It has, through its agents on this Coast, prostituted its powers at the dicta- 
tion of, and in the interest of, said monopoly, to hedge in, confine, and cripple 
the rights and privileges of the salmon and codfish fleets of this State, saiUng 
in Alaskan waters, by forbidding the bartering of merchandise, even for neces- 
sary supplies, while the same officials have permitted the fishing vessels of the 
said monopoly to exercise unrestricted trade with that territory. 

It has suffered its revenue cutters, while in public service and under public 
expense and pay, to be used by the said monopoly for the transportation of the 
effects of said monopoly. 

And whereas, the executive branch of the general Government, by the acts 
aforesaid and otherwise, has abdicated that portion of the sovereign j^ower and 
authority which can rightfully be exercised by the executive of the Government 
alone, acting through agents and officers exclusively devoted to the duties of 
their respective offices, in favor of the agents of said monopoly, claiming to 
act under the double capacity of agents for both the Government and said 
monopoly. 

And whereas, the legitimate consequence of said abdication, by the Legis- 
lative and Executive powers of the general Government, and the delegation of 
these jjowers to the said monopoly its agents aud officers, has been an almost 
total suppression of trade and commerce with every jjortion of Alaska, so that 
intercourse with the people and inhabitants of that territory is rendered diffi- 
cult and expensive if not impossible ; the productions of the said territory have 
been locked up, and the large commercial interests of the Pacific Coast, aud of 
this State in particular, suffer and decline, while the inhabitants of Alaska 
have been, by the action of the general Government, consigned to a species of 
slavery for the term of twenty years ; they are thus held as prisoners, virtually 
chained and manacled, without having committed any breach of the laws or 
been found guilty of having committed any crimes. This is a violent usurpa- 
tion of the sacred guarantees of the Constitution. The people of the United 
States have shed their best blood aud hampered themselves with debt, to give 
freedom to four millions of slaves. Now, by a strange coincidence, they find 
that they have paid over ;?7,000,000 for Alaska, one direct result of which has 
been the enslavement of a portion of its inhabitants. Such a gross insult to 
the American spirit of liberty deserves to be blotted from the records of our 
national life which it has disgraced. In this age, when the watchword is the 
Universal Brotherhood of Man, when the Africans, the Chinese and other 
nations, long held in servitude, are feeling the glorious impulses of freedom as 
known to the citizens of the American Ilepublic, is it not a shame and a crime 
that the foul spot of serfdom and slavery curses Alaska ? Surely the action of 
Congress in legislating away the lives and liberty of the Alaskans to a soulless 
monopoly must arouse in the hearts of the American people a public sentiment 
which will immediately anmal such a piece of barbarous legislation. 

Now therefore, we, the undersigned, being personally cognizant of the 
above facts, and sincere in the deductions derived therefrom, would, in view 
thereof, most respectfully petition your honorable bodies in joint convention, 
by concurrent resolution, address the Congress of the United States, at its pres- 



32 

ent session, petitioning that Honorable Body, in the interests of your memo- 
rialists, and of the merchants, and traders, and commerce of San Francisco, 
the Pacific Coast and the entire nation, and in the interests of humanity and 
progress, of right and justice, and in vindication of the integrity of our insti- 
tutions which denounce all efforts at the enthrallment of the people or any 
portion thereof, to annul the said illegal and unconstitutional contract or lease 
above mentioned, and to open up Alaska to free and unrestricted commercial 
intercourse, subject only to such wise and wholesome general regulations of 
trade as will act and be binding iipon all alike ; and, as a preliminary to such a 
step, praying that a Commission be appointed by Congress, at its present ses- 
sion, to investigate the evils which attend the management of Alaskan affairs, 
and the infractions of the terms of the said contract or lease by the said Alaska 
Commercial Company, said commission to be composed in whole or in part of 
merchants of San Faancisco. 

A. Crawford & Co., Johnson, Nickerson & Veasey, Lynde & Hough, Mor- 
gan & Co., Thomas J. Foster, John H. Carmany & Co., Sherwood, Buckley & 
Co., Thomas Burden, J. Sturtevant, J. Marks, S. Folpe, Thomas W. McCal- 
lum, A. C. Nichols & Co., H. Horst, Starr & Little, James R Finlayson, D. 
Beadle, Charles Hare, S. M. Holderness, David Shirpser, Sam. P. Holden, M. 
J. Kelly, Charles J. Jansou, Koyal Fisk, And. Welch, A. C. Piaud, Jacob Schrei- 
ber, \V. A. Hughes, Wm. H. Bouse, J. M. Hixson, A. W. White & Co., Hill, 
Slopt &Co., A. Pallies, J. H. Harn, James Cormack, Jr., W. J. Loury, C. F. 
Bassett, Adam Booth & Co., S. Levy & Co., J. Green, John Laws, Duff & Co., 
Lowry & Wightman, Wm. Kibbe Benjamin, S. M. Henry & Co., P. B. Smith, 
H. F. Baker, Heywood & Hendley, Dakin & Libbev, Brous tt Perkins, Little- 
field, Webb & Co., H. K. Cummings, A. A. Haseltme, J. W. Wolf, George E. 
Cole, J. Scott, James Eope, D. B. Stewart, C. McCann, K. D. Thilpoll, L. E. 
Noowan, R. E. Haseltine, C. K. Jones, G. S. Rogers, John Bills, Wm. Chip- 
man, Wm. Fullard, T. J. Parker, W. Bobbins, Geo. E. P. Hunt, Francis P. 
Devine, B. H. Madison, Geo. W. Boyd, Wm. DeWitt, John C. Gunn, Henry 
Dneyer, Henry Anderson, L. S. Allen, George Charles Lester, H. Heine, John 
McPherson, E. D. Ehafon, G. D. Plato, John H. Druhe, 0. J. Preston, James 
McLoughlin, H. Applebee, Peter Muhelson, Thomas Bewick, and 300 others. 

Now, wliat was the fate of this memorial? It was presented 
to the California Legislature by Senator Perkins, on February 
9th, 1872, and referred to the Committee on Federal Kelations. 
General Miller immediately interviewed this committee and pro- 
nounced the statements set forth in said memorial as false, and 
his word outweighed the signatures of hundreds of the best citi- 
zens of San Francisco, and said honest committee refused to 
forward the memorial to Congress. 

THE RESULT OF THE LEASE. 
From the day the lease was signed the doom of Alaska was 
sealed. Baffled and cut off on all sides, the dismayed firms and 
individuals that followed their various pursuits in the country, 
were forced to withdraw one after another; the plans then under 
consideration were abandoned, and to-day there are hardly any 
white men in the territory but the employees of the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company. 



33 

It seems strange at the first glance, that the lease of two small 
islands should stop the development of the whole immense terri- 
tory, but it is not more so than that the possession of a narrow 
thread of land through a country should give a railroad ring the 
power to lord it over cities, counties, and States. 

On said two islands — St. George and St. Paul — the wealth is 
heaped up on the beach in the form of millions of fur-seals, 
worth from $10 to $20 each, and without exertion, the Alaska 
Commercial Company makes here alone about $1,000,000 clear 
profit per year. (The dividends of the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany for 1873 reached $1,300,000). Now, with such tremendous 
riches at its command, it is an easy matter for this Company to 
crush any enterprise in the rest of the whole territory, which it 
claims as its own dominion, and where enough natural dangers 
and difficulties await the trader, fisherman and explorer, without 
those prejiared for them by an overwhelming monopoly. 

As already the old tyrannical Eussian Comj)any correctly antici- 
pated that enterprise, discovery and development of the territory 
would interfere with their fur-trade, would attract the attention of 
outsiders and would curtail their privileges, so has also the Alaska 
Commercial Company made it its principle to exclude every body 
but itself from Alaska, and has therefore declared war against 
every thing that looks like enterprise, exploration, discovery, im- 
migration and development ; and as already explained, through 
the means of the tremendous wealth and other advantages, furn- 
ished to it by the lease of the fur-seal islands, has already suc- 
ceeded in making itself the master of the whole Territory. 

To give a striking proof how, since the advent of the Alaska 
Commercial Company the trade with the Territory has almost 
entirely ceased, we will give the lists of the vessels that cleared 
for Alaska during the months of February, March and April, re- 
spectively, in 1869 and 1874. 

GEEAT DIMINUTION OF TKADE. 
We will say, as an explanation, that the spring and early sum- 
mer is the time when most ships sail for Alaska. They go up in 
Spring and return in Fall, as during the Winter the coasts of 
Alaska are the most dangerous localities in the world. 
3 



34 



VESSELS CLEARED FOR ALASKA IN 



1874. 

Feb. 6. Frances Palmer, Janson. 
Feb. 17. Wm. Suttou, Alaska Com. Co. 
Mar. 6. W. H. Stevens, ^/asfca Com.Co. 
Mar. 7. Schr. Urania, Shirpser. 
Mar. 18. Steamer Alexander, Alaska 

Com. Co. 
Apr. 17. Schr. Eustace, Alaska Com. 

Co. 
Apr. 18. Barque Cyaue, Alaska Com. 



1869. 

Feb, 3. Schr. Idaho, Hutchinson, Kohl 
& Co. 

Feb. 7. Schr. Legal Tender, Alsop & 
Co. 

Feb. 7. Barque Cyane, Pickett k Co. 

Feb. 13. Stmr. John L. Stephens, Hol- 
laday & Brenham. 

Feb. 16. Barque Frances Palmer, C.J. 
Janson. 

Feb. 24. Schr. Lewis Perry, Tilby. 

Feb. 27. Barque Washington, N. Bi- 
chard. 

Mar. 5. Steamer Alexander, Iluichin- 
son, Kohl & Co. 

Mar. 6. Schr. Luella, Malovansky. 

Mar. 7. Schr. Alaska, Lynde & Hough. 

Mar. 7. Schr. General Harney, F. G. 
E. Tittel. 

Mar. 10. Steamer Constantine, Hutch- 
inson, Kohl & Co. 

Mar, 10. SchrAlice, Malovansky & Co. 

Mar. 11. Ship Cesarewich, Ice Co. 

Mar. 26. Schr. Lizzie Shea, Murdock. 

Mar. 26. Brig Victoria, Wright & 
Bowne. 

Apr. 2. Schr. Page, Taylor & Bendel. 

Apr. 7. BrigCommodore,Parrott&Co. 

Apr. 17. Brig Olga, Ice Company. 

Apr. 18. Schr. T. L. Steele, Pioneer 
Am. Fur Co. 

Apr. 18. Barque Peking, Ice Co. 

Apr. 18. Schr. Fanny, W. N. Shelby. 

Apr. 27. Schr. Lizzie, C. I. Janson. 

Apr. 27. Barque Atalanta, Pope & Tal- 
bot 

This list does not include the fishing vessels, 

"We see that, while during the months of February, March 
and April, as many as 24 vessels sailed for Alaska in 1869, of 
which only 3 belonged to Hutchinson, Kohl & Co., and 21 to 
other parties. During the same n^onths in 1874 only 7 vessels 
cleared for the territory, of which 5 belonged to the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company, and only 2 to other firms, or 18 less than in 
1869, 

Do not these figures tell a serious tale ? Does it not prove that 
we can safely assert that the interest of the whole Pacific Coast 
has been injured by the lease; that the Alaska Commercial Com- 
pany has a monopoly over the whole Territory of Alaska, and 
that it has killed its trade ? 



35 

Most positively does it prove all this, and this state of affairs 
has long been feared and predicted by the Press, by the mer- 
chants and by the general public of the Pacific Coast, as we have 
already circumstantially explained in the foregoing pages. 

THE COMMENTS OF THE PKESS. 

We will again quote a few of the many papers and authors, that 
have recognized the fact, and have discussed the matter. 

In a work entitled, " Hidden Treasures, or Fishing Around 
the North-west Coast," a very able little work, by J. L. McDon- 
ald, we find the following: 

' ' The villainous law, passed ostensibly for the protection of fur-bearing 
animals, should have been more justly entitled: ,'An Act to Enslave the 
People of Alaska, to Obstruct the Fisheries, and to Check the Development 
of the Northwest Coast. ' By the terms of this Act the inhabitants of St. 
Paul and St. George and the adjacent islands are strictly walled in, being for- 
bidden any intercourse -with ' the rest of mankind; ' they are forced by neces- 
sity to sell their products to the Company, and to receive such considerations 
in return as this soulless monopoly may see fit to give. The obstructions 
which the Fur Company has in former years thrown in the way of individual 
traders and fishermen iu those regions, are very well known. The subsidized 
Federal ofiicers in the interests of the Company, have given much trouble to 
private enterprises; several vessels have been seized on vpry flimsy pretexts, 
and sent for trial to San Francisco. In every instance those vessels have been 
liberated, and the masters and supercargoes exonerated by the courts. Voy- 
ages have thus been broken u]i, heavy losses have fallen upon humble adven- 
turers, failures have followed, and peaceful commerce has been seriously 
obstructed. Several suits for heavy damages are now pending in the courts 
on the North Pacific Coast, against the Revenue officers formerly serving on 
the coast of Alaska." 

And again in the same book: — 

" Sincerely believing that the ' Fur Franchise ' in Alaska is obstructive to 
the development of the vast resources latent in those regions, subversive of 
the best interests of the people of that Territory, and embarassing to the 
traders and fishermen in and around those shores, we most earnestly ask 
Congress to repeal that odious measure, and let ' justice be done though the 
heavens fall.' " 

The Sacramento Reporter, July 8, 1870, says: 

" Gradually this firm, or company, threw ofif all oloak, openly claimed a 
monopoly, and warred upon all traders." 

From the Chicago Tribune, January 4, 1873, we take: 

"It practically holds the same relation to Alaska that the old Russo- 
Americau did, and" that the Hudson's Bay Company does to the adjoining Brit- 
ish Possessions. It has rivals iu the trade, but they are gradually disappear- 



36 

ing under the treatment known in California as ' the little game of freeze- 
out.' The Company is reported very wealthy, and can afi'ord to undersell and 
overbuy its rivals, until they have to give up the losing game. It is accom- 
modating, even generous, when its own interests are not at stake. It discoun- 
tenances everything which tends to the development of the country, such as 
exploration, immigration, etc., because a settled Territory produces no furs. 
If a man is bound to go there, and it cannot help it, it is then full of accom- 
modation, and helps him all it can during his stay there, and hastens his 
departure." 

This is an extract from an article by Mr. Harrington, Astrono- 
mer in the United States Coast Survey, who had been a year in 
Alaska. 

But of the greatest weight are the words of a distinguished 
officer of the United States Army, General Jefferson C. Davis, 
commanding the Department of Alaska. He says : 

" Since the declaration of Congi'ess. at its last session, of St. Paul and St. 
George's islands as special reservations of the Government, they have been 
under the control of oflQcers of the revenue service, sent there for the purpose 
of executing the laws prohibiting the landing at or kilKng of fur-seals upon 
them. During my official visit there, in the beginning of the present summer, 
and whilst engaged in in investigating the affairs of the natives, as well as the 
manner in which the troops had performed their duties, I learned that, under 
one pretext and another, privileged parties had been permitted to land and 
remain on those reservations, and had been allowed to kill the animals at pleas- 
ure. During last summer at least 85,000 seals were killed on the two islands ; 
probably more than that number. The pretexts under which this was author- 
ized was that of enabling the natives to subsist themselves without expense to 
the Government. In an economical point of view this would seem quite right ; 
but the facts are that the natives are cooped upon these islands, where they are 
compelled to work for those private parties or starve ; in other words, they are 
to-day in a complete state of slavery. Competition in trade has been universally 
established, and is now pretty well understood by the natives and traders 
throughout the country ; wherever the former can paddle his canoe, or the 
latter penetrate with his goods, such is the case. TTiese isolated islands of .S'<. 
Paul and St. George in Behring Sea, the richest possessions in natural wealth, con- 
sidering their small area on the continent, form the only exceptions. The natives 
are peaceful, honest, and capable of transacting ordinary business quite well, 
and would doubtless improve themselves if they had a fair chance, but their 
present complete enslavement and robbery, by an unscrupulous ring of speculators, 
will ever prevent such progress." — Eeport of Brevet Maj. Gen. Commanding De- 
partment of Alaska, to Secretary of War, August 20, 1870. 



CONCEALING THE TEUE VALUE OF ALASKA TERRn:ORY. 

In order to stifle the interest that the public took in Alaska, 
and to prevent, as much as possible, that the same should be 
made the object of American enterprise, the Alaska Commercial 
Co. has always been very anxious to have Alaska represented as 
a very undesirable and inhospitable country, without charms of 



37 

any kind, and its fur-trade as throwing off but a limited profit — 
exhibiting in this respect again the same spirit as the old Russian 
company. 

The Government officials, who in various capacities were sent 
out from time to time to Alaska, and who were generally won 
over to private interest, before they even left San Francisco or 
Washington, gave therefore always the most unfavorable account 
of the country ; while men, whose honor and integrity cannot be 
doubted, re^Dresent the country as it is, so far as they know it ; 
such men are Secretary Seward, Professor Davidson of scientific 
fame. General Jefferson C. Davis, former Military Governor of 
Alaska, Vincent Colyer, and Dr. W. H. Dall of the United States 
Coast Survey. 

All these distinguished persons speak of the astonishing mild- 
ness of climate of certain portions of Alaska, of the rankness and 
luxuriousness of the vegetation, of the density and extension of 
the timber lands, of the indications of minerals, of the magni- 
tude of the fur trade, and of the incredible abundance of aquatic 
life. 

REPORT OF HENRY W. ELLIOTT. 

The last official report, submitted to the Government, is that 
of Mr, Henry W. Elliott, Special Agent of the Treasury Depart- 
ment, which, we are sorry to say, is in direct contradiction to the 
statements made by such persons as we have just named. Mr. 
Elliott has publicly claimed, this winter at Washington, that he 
knows more about Alaska tlian any one person, that he had been 
in the Territory before the transfer to the United States, and 
many years since, and that he is the only person qualified to judge 
what that country needs. Let us see what right Mr. Elliott has 
to these claims : 

During the year 1865 Mr. Elliott, then an employee of the tel- 
egraph company that attempted to establish a line from America 
to Europe via Siberia, was stationed at Puget Sound, about eight 
hundred miles from the Southern boundary of Alaska, and never 
approached it nearer than that until the year 1872, when it had 
been five years American territory. 



On the strength of this, Mr. Elliott asserts that he has been in 
Alaska before the American advent. We will now show what 
experience he has had in the country since : 

Mr. Elliott went first to Alaska in the Spring of 1872 in a sub- 
ordinate position, being assistant to Captain Bryant, who was 
then the Government agent on St. Paul, the largest of the fur- 
seal islands ; where he, Mr. Elliott, married a native girl. Mr. 
Elliott remained on the island about one year, returning in 1873, 
without having seen anything of the rest of the immense terri- 
tory, except the little Aleut-village Illiuliuk on Ounalaska island, 
where he touched on his way up and down. After his arrival at 
Washington he published a work on the habits of the fur-seals, 
and made himself conspicuous by preferring charges against 
Captain Bryant, who, by the way, had proved himself not very 
pliable in the hands of the Alaska Commercial Co., and conse- 
quently was anything but popular with them. 

With a strong breeze of powerful influence, we now see Mr. 
Elliott sailing into a position specially created for him, and for 
which an appropriation is set aside by Congress. He was appointed 
a Special Agent of the Government to investigate the resources 
of the fur-trade, and the condition of the natives of Alaska, and 
last May he set sail in the revenue cutter Reliai%ce, which had 
been placed at his service for this purpose. 

Mr. Elliott proceeded first to Sitka, on Baranof Island, thence 
to Ounalaska Island, thence to the two fur-seal islands St. 
George and St. Paul, thence to St. Matthews' and lastly to St. 
Lawrence Island, staying only a few days at each place, and re- 
turning via Ounalaska to San Francisco, where he arrived again 
in September. That is to say Mr. Elliott having landed on six 
of the countless islands of Alaska, and having never set a foot 
on or even been in sight of the main land, has now submitted a 
circumstantial report on the Territory to the Government. 

If we bear in mind that Alaska has as much area as one quar- 
ter of the whole United States, and a coast line of 10,000 miles; 
that it is fringed by thousands of islands, and that it is inhabited 
by hundreds of tribes of aborigines, belonging to three distinct 
stocks of men, and speaking many different languages, it becomes 



39 

plaiu that it requires years of travel, exploring and study to be- 
come acquainted with the subject upon which Mr. Elliott has 
reported, after a few months' pleasure-cruise in the North-Pacific 
and the Behring Sea; after having landed on said six islands, and 
after having seen a few hundred Aleuts of the three thousand 
civilized and the fifty thousand savage inhabitants of Alaska. 

Mr. Elliott's report is now just such as the Alaska Commercial 
Company desires, and might be mistaken for a statement written 
by a member of that Company. 

ELLIOTT'S RECOMMENDATION IN FAVOE OF THE ALASKA 
COMMEECIAL COMPANY. 

Mr. Elliott very minutely describes scenes and people which 
he has never approached within five hundred or more miles, 
and represents the whole Territory a desolate and barren mass of 
basaltic rock; where no white man, not even the hardy Icelander, 
would live without being forced. He says the climate is fearful, 
and that no vegetable, not even the potato, will flourish under 
its frowning sky; that all its resources, the timber, the fisheries, 
and even the fur trade are vastly overrated, and that there is but 
one praiseworthy institution in the whole country, and that is the 
Alaska Commercial Company. 

He is of the opinion that in order to give this poor but honest 
Company a chance to make a little money, and the seals getting 
too thick on the Islands anyhow, the former should be allowed 
to take 150,000 skins instead of 100,000, as stipulated by the 
lease; while he also gently hints at his own merits in bringing 
these facts to the cognizance of the Government. 

The aim and purpose of such arguments are too transparent to 
need comment, and although we have no doubt that it does not 
pay for Mr. Elliott to have any difierent views, yet we are sur- 
prised to find him so little shrewd as to come out with such un- 
disguised and clumsy praise of the Alaska Commercial Company, 
which lets at once the cat out of the bag. 

But we must admit that we admire Mr. Elliott's cheek, not 
only in asserting that he knows more of Alaska than any one 



40 

man, but in submitting to the Government a report, so weak and 
absurd, and so full of mistakes and misstatements, that we can- 
not acceiDt them all as having been made through his ignorance 
of the country. 

We should have thought that Mr. Elliott would have posted 
himself a little on the subject that he was going to report upon, 
by reading the excellent books that have been published on 
Alaska, and avoid such blunders as will neither do him or the 
Alaska Commercial Company any good. 

Considering that the Government has the very best means to 
get reliable information about Alaska, and could, for instance, 
utilize the experience of Dr. W. H. Dall, (who, since 1865, has 
been nearly every year in the Territory surveying and exploring), 
and still persistently selects men of little experience to get its 
advice and information from, the question naturally suggests 
itself: Are really correct and true statements and reports in 
regard to Alaska wanted, or only such as will serve certain pur- 
i? 



A CUESORY DESCRIPTION OF THE RESOURCES OF ALASKA. 

Of course we must abstain from giving a description of such a 
Territory as Alaska, which covers an area larger than the Terri- 
tories of California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Arizona together, 
"but a few statements in regard to its climate, etc., will perhaps 
not be lost. 

The climate of Alaska, (excepting that portion which lies within 
the Arctic circle, ) and especially that bordering on the North Pa- 
cific Ocean, is varying, according to latitude and local geograph- 
ical conditions, equal to that of North Germany, Scotland and 
Scandinavia. This country is traversed by large navigable rivers, 
with many tributaries, has beautiful forests, and millions of acres 
adapted to agriculture and grazing, and when we mention that 
during the Summer the plains and valleys are waving breast 
high with grass and rank vegetation, while the air is laden with 
the fragrance of the wild flowers; nothing more need to be said 
of its fertility. Game of all kinds is abundant everywhere. On 
the Aliaska Peninsula herds of reindeer are found at all seasons 



M 

of the year, and the fisheries are not insignificant, as Mr. Elliott 
thinks, but immense, for the codfish abounds everywhere on the 
coast; large schools of herring fill the bays, and the dense masses 
of salmon that during the running season, crowd up even the 
smallest stream, must be seen to be appreciated. As a matter of 
course, a rough winter follows the delightful Summer, but along 
the coast the former is tempered by the influence of warm cur- 
rents of the sea, that here course along the American Continent. 

There is not any doiibt that rye, barley and oats, as well as all 
kinds of vegetables can be raised there as easily as in Northern 
Europe or the State of Maine, and that for stock-raising the 
country is particularly well adapted. 

To show that the potato will grow very well in Alaska, con- 
trary to Mr. Elliott's statements, we will illustrate by examples: 
Duiing 1868 and 1869, a man by the name of Doyle used to sup- 
ply the town of Sitka with green peas, string beans, and all other 
kinds of vegetables, which he raised on a small island in the 
harbor; the same were also grown in the militarj- garden at that 
place. The Russians always raised their own vegetables, includ- 
ing cabbage. The same man, Doyle, raised small quantities of 
barley and wheat, as an experiment, at Kinai, which grew up 
rank and tall, filled well and ripened completely. At Kodiac, 
and on the Aleutian Islands, the vegetables gi'ow enormously 
large, though their flavor is a little coarse, and even at Northern 
St. Michael, in latitude 64, turnips and potatoes for the use of 
the fort are successfully raised. 

But it is especially cod-fishing, the canning, smoking and salt- 
ing of salmon, lumbering, ship-building, mining and the fur- 
trade, that will bring people to Alaska and will induce capitalists 
to invest their money in it, and if the lease should be abolished and 
free competition opened once more, there would soon spring up 
an era of enterprise and activity throughout the Territory, which 
would surpass that of any former epoch, and ten ships would sail 
for our beautiful Northern Empire for every one that now shapes 
its lonely course to its deserted coasts. 



42 



THE REMEDY. 

And now we ask, how long is this burning shame of leasing 
civilized Creoles, and of granting monopolies to continue, in open 
violation of the Constitution? how long shall this immense terri- 
tory, that belongs to the people and not to President Grant, nor 
to the Alaska Commercial Company, be practically the property 
of a few wealthy individuals, and how long shall we be obliged 
to bow our heads with shame before the more liberal nations of 
Europe, that have abolished slavery, monopolies, and royalties of 
trade? 

The history of the wrongs of Alaska, which the foregoing pages 
contain, and which we submit to the public, although it is neces- 
sarily brief and incomplete, is a true and just statement of these 
events. It has not been written with a view of injuring person- 
ally the members of the Alaska Commercial Co., but simply to 
expose the unconstitutionality and the injustice of the Alaska 
business ; and as said company is so deeply implicated in it, and 
has been the direct cause of all this wrong and misrule, we had 
to strike at it with all our might. 

Still we did forbear to give many examples and statements of 
cases of cruelty and oppression, and other condemnable actions, 
which would implicate personally members and employees of 
said company, but we will not hesitate to give them publicity if 
this cause demands it. 

As Congress has reserved, in the bill -in regard to this lease, 
the power to repeal the same at its pleasure, and as this lease has 
already been violated and fully forfeited, especially by killing 
more seals than are therein stipulated (only the best skins being 
shipped, and the rest rejected and thrown into the sea), we have 
no doubt that the first Congress of the United States, to which 
this matter will be presented in the projDer light, will at last do 
justice to all — will abolish the lease, and adopt a plan in regard 
to Alaska similar to that proposed by the Chamber of Commerce 
of San Francisco several years ago, a plan that would make of 
Alaska what it was originally intended to be— a vast tributary to 
the wealth of our nation. 



43 

And once more before we close, we call upon the people and 
the press of America, in the name of humanity, patriotism, and 
the public interest, to use all their influence to have a law 
repealed that does injustice to thousands of citizens, that has 
killed a large portion of the trade and enterprise of the Pacific 
Coast, and that has delivered into bondage whole communities of 
civilized human beings, that feel their situation deeply, and are 
capable of drawing up such touching petitions as we have given. 



Published by Order of the Anti-Monopoly Association of the 
Pacific Coast. 



CHAS. LEEGE, Secretary. 
Oommunications must be addressed to P. O. Box No. 218. 




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